Open for business, Mr. Ford? Open the new Highway 7

The roadblock that Doug Ford just planted in the middle of the Highway 7 project between Kitchener and Guelph is totally unacceptable.

Nearly 30 years after the province first started planning this modern, four-lane, divided highway, after repeated delays and after the project’s first phase is largely done, Premier Ford is delaying it yet again.

He has abandoned a pledge to complete twin bridges over the Grand River by 2020 — the only deadline to which the previous Liberal government had committed. In addition, he’ll review the entire project, even though it has been reviewed many times before.

As a result, there are now legitimate fears the new highway will never be built — even though more than $100 million of public money has been spent on it.

This is not how to run a province “for the people,” Mr. Premier.

The need for the new highway — which every party in the Ontario legislature has supported — could not be more obvious. The current, two-lane nightmare running between Kitchener and Guelph under the name of Highway 7 is overused, overcrowded and arguably unsafe.

It is fertile ground for gridlock and collisions. People are injured and die on this stretch of road far too often.

The highway’s a pain for commuters who must often detour around an accident scene. It’s inefficient for commercial traffic, especially for trucks transporting goods through this economically vibrant part of Ontario.

“Just-in-time” delivery? Not when you’re wasting time on Highway 7.

No wonder Art Sinclair, vice-president of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, warns “any further delay” of the new highway is “going to be an impediment to the growth of this community, in terms of population and economic development.”

How can Ford, who should be talking to Waterloo Region’s three Progressive Conservative MPPs, not know this? Doesn’t he realize the province first started planning the new 18-kilometre highway, to run just north of the existing Highway 7 route, in 1989?

The citizens in this part of Ontario have waited — first patiently, then with increasing frustration — for this project to happen.

The Liberal government approved the project in 2007 and pledged to fast-track it. After the project stalled in the recession of 2009, the Liberals revived it in 2012.

For a while, the new Highway 7 was supposed to be finished sometime after 2016. Then, the completion date was pushed back beyond 2021. Now, thanks to Ford, no one knows when, or even if, the new highway will be built.

Most Ontarians can appreciate the need for the government to better manage its finances and rein in the province’s rampant debt. But they also expect the government to keep investing in safe, efficient highways that will serve motorists and the economy alike.

Those economic boosts seem especially necessary after this week’s announcement that General Motors’ Oshawa plant will soon close.

If Premier Ford needs more convincing, he should tally up the money that’s been spent on the new Highway 7 — more than $100 million so far.

The land for the new route has been bought. The Guelph Street underpass beneath Highway 85 was rebuilt. So was the Victoria Street Bridge over Highway 85 nearby. And though local motorists griped about all this construction, calmer heads agreed it was simply the price to be paid for a new Highway 7.

Let’s hope Ford reviews all this and gives the goahead for the new highway. If he truly wants to prove Ontario’s open for business, he’d better open the new Highway 7 as soon as possible.